when all thebl this nation faces, with all the problems in massachusetts, people ought to vote owho has the more sound programs and policies and who has the track record that mak us believe they will deliver. when people sop to pernal attackheyhto stay in personal rather than public space. thanks for watching. i'm al arpton. "hardball" starts right now. the no-nothings. let's play "hardball." good evening. i'm chris matthews in washington. let me start with the bone-headed poll numbers just in. i'm not talking about the arithmetic. oumeert e, wh it ys especially on the right. catch this. a third of conservative republicans are convinced that

the president is a muslim. a third. less than half believe in global warming. only 2 out of 5 in ohio, for example, believed he was born in the u.s. threst are to one gree or e her birthers anstmaoul a little better about that and let you know how low information these voters are on the right, catch this. two-thirds of republicans say there were weapons of mass destruction in iraq when our troops got the in 2003. do they ha amnesia? have they been buried in their basements the last nine years? einisy le being so out to lunch they don't even remember how "w," remember him, he was president, blew his whole reason for sending our troops in there in the first place. how can people be so helpless. anyway, this may explain why romney is in troubleec people out there think his party is out of it. joining me is howard fineman and joe klein of t times. let's take a look at the two polls. the two key states ohio and florida. accoing to "the washington st," president oma has a four-point lead over mitt romney

inlorida. fouroints doheren ry tost 51%,/47% for obama. in ohio, the president's lead is a more comfortable eight points. 52/44. that's dramatic. we have joining us -- let's take a look at that for a minute. howard fineman, thank you for joining us, and joe ein of "time" magazine. thank yo tr me numbers i put out tonight, and i'm going to get all through them, shows a party obliterated to reality. she don't seem to watch the news. ghatt he m to know the he realized the was no weapons of mass destruction in iraq. that was the whole reality we lived in, the disillusionment on the right, the confusion in the middle, the anger on the left. they didn't even experience that period of time? >> well, chris, to put a charitably, i think the republican party today is the nostalgia party. that was my sense oft having kind of marinated in their world viewown tam at e bl cnt they think of mpler world, a world where the verities they believe in still apply in simple terms.

the fact is it's a complex world. if you just run against government, if the whole thing is i don't want government, i dot ev gnmt, th youren't going participate in the reality of economic life for one in america today. they're the nostalgia party. they would like to believe that the military was correct, that dick cheney was correct about weapons of mass destruction. they would prefer to believe in that -- >> but what evidenceo they have that we were right about iraq andmd hen' what i'm saying is they want to will themselves into believing authority figures who used to be respected around the country and who no longer are. joe klein, thank you for joining us. sometimes we can simply disagree by lkit the same picture. we c saythat notrue, that is true. when you look at something so demonstrably true, we didn't find weapons of mass destruction when we got to iraq, which con founded people, who supported the war. fair enough, they got it wrong. people ihe middle y, tse guys don knowhathey' inout.

peop on the left said, we never thought that was the reason for the war in the first place. but to not know it. what do you make of these numbers? democrats in this new poll63% say there was no weapons of ma destructio 15% say there were. okay. 1 out of 6emocts tnk tre might have been. republicans however, 63% of republicans say, yes, there were weapons of mass destruction, almost two-thirds. how do we account for this misstatement of fact? >> well, i think this is a tribe to the persuasive powers of rush limbau and fox news anthe udepane of that eo chamber. you don't hear rush talking about weapons of mass destruction anymore, and i saw this pie chart on andrew sullivan's blog today, something like 93% of the mentions of global warmingn newsnock itn rphen. so when you have people living in this hermetically sealed world that does not resemble reality, ty wind up believin some very weird things.

>> well, when the queen mary starts making regular ips acro the polar ice capecau yhihey might notice? has anybody seen the pictures of greenland the other day? there's no snow. >> i agree with joe. i agree that, number one, the republicans are the nostalgia party. they're the simplicity party. they're the -- >> are they luddites, anti-science? >> i think if they're convinced, as many of them are, that science is being used as a conspiracy to take away their freedom and take away their independence -- >> i saw that movie, it's called "planet of the apes" and it wasn't a comedy. >> as i'm sure joe and i listen to -- we watch fox, we listen because have you to cover the whole spectrum as a reporter, that's the -- that's the message that you get. that the scientists and the bureaucrats are combining to rob us of our freedom. >> so it's basically a fear, it a fr of everying. ke aoo tnu th

the infamous birther question. was the president born in the united states? under our constitution he has to be born here to be president. io republican primary voters, people who voted already this year 37% don't think barack obama was born here. 25 thest was american born and, therefore, a legitimate president. when you ask the president's religion, this gets scary. a majority of all voters don't take him at his word. just 49%. this is all voters, say he's a christian, which is what he says he is. and 30% of republicans and 34% simple as that.cansa now, here's the point, these bad numbers, saying it twice wrong, these 34%, they're twice what they were four years ago. when he ca in people took him at face value. m icorbvly. i got a whole history, it was announced when i was born in honolulu, in all the papers there, and i am what i am, a christian. i go to this church that caused him a lot of trouble. do we remember that? he went to a church, jeremiah wright's church that got him in all the trouble.

so why have wehangedm th anger about his church with wright and acceptance of an american to this -- they're all becoming donald trumps, mini trumps. >> my explanation for it is fear. my explanaon is it's not bed on a study of genealogical history or -- it's fear. anoncen ois population, this country, which you showed there on the charts, they think that president obama is on a mission to rob the american people of their freedom. >> that's why he killed bin den. >> yes. >> that's why he's almost destroyed w al qaeda, which iusyi that's their world view, and the fear expresses itself in the idea that this man must be someone else. he must be ather. he must be a hidden person. he must have an agenda that's hidden for some reason. >> among the agenda items, e, nt p oom tngs republicans are watching, and a good number do. i just want to point out a couple things. your stock market, 401(k) has doubled.

not because of obama, but he certainly didn't get in the way of it doubling. he didn't have some plan to bring down wall street. it's over 13,500 now. as0 ht there. these are realities. this should have some role in people's reality. >> the housing market is coming back. consumer debt levels are at all-time lows but i agree with howard. what do you hear most often from these people? we want our america back. well, the america that they're livingn now is increasingly rinds th different kind of people, you know, the mini marts are -- the cliche is every mini mart is run by a south asian. there are all ese latinos around and they look at -- >> mini markets, actual. i would say tewiv i ouuny are very good at working 24/7 and stocking their store with great, fresh produce that's very healthy for people, in many cases. >> the south asians and the koreans, the east asians have been model american immigrants. they're terrif. they -- >> i don't think they have a crime factor at all in most

cases. >>se people look at their grandchildren and see em dating people of different races and then they see them becoming gay, some of them, and tn they look at the president of the united states, who doesn't have thgood sense to be either black or white and h middle name is huein,ed's mu. >> i like the way you phrased it, becoming gay. i'm not sure of the choice. that came up with trent lott, i think. >> but the point -- >> announcing they are gay. >> right. >> joe's point is it's a more complicateworld than it was. deapll t ol the different ethnic groups, in new york city i think there are 140 or 150 languages spoken in the schools. at the republican convention that was opie and andy griffith and that was a wonderful thing onevhoitn'al at the time either, and that -- i don't mean to -- it sounds condescending, i'm not trying to be that way.

i wish life were simpler. >> the fear is legitimate. >> yeah, i wish -- wed t'50s.s real. >> but we're not -- >> a lot of people had no reason to love the 'fifty, the civil rights bills and, you couldn't go to a -- you couldn't do it on route 40. let me bring ts up. mi fe eago a barack obamaof course, has an exotic name, an african name. he's not an unusual fellow. he seems like a person you would hang out with, play golf with. these aren't strange personalities. leon panetta is the most common, regular -- someone you would have met 100 years ago. are the democraticparty, the new age that they scare pele? i jt'thamyself. maybe i'm part of that reality. i don't see them as strange at all. >> chris, it goes back to the propaganda factor. it's not just that rush and fox and those guys say sething, it's that we say t other thing. if we say that barack obama isn't a muslim, that must not be true bausee'reheeral me w taitrea

media, and nothing we can say -- we say can be trusted. >> i have called an anti-pture for years. just saying no to everything. thank you, guys. i think you nailed it. it's psychological. anyway, howard fineman and joe klein, thank you. coming up, could barack obama be the democrat's ronald rag? yes, says andrew sullivan. he has a chance to transform american politics. the first thing he has to do is win. >> world leaders seek his guidance. they don't dare reject his invitations. bill clinton h bome pren t w t mitt romney and president obama oke at the clinton globa initiative. more importantly, he knows who he wants to win. obama this time. hillary next time. what could makco rn scott walker become pro-u.n.? >> the packers play it at the goal line as wilson scrambles to keep it alive. the game's final play, a wilson

loft to the end zone. which is fumbled by tate with inimne whs it? who do they give it to? touchdown! >> well, one result of that, the anti-union pro-packers governor of wisconsin scott walker wants the union refs back on the field after the substitute refs gave the catch in that game last night to seattle. puann.meiniswithhis to keep bcks from voting. and this is "hardball," the place for politics. ey alex. just picking up some, brochures, posters copies of my aeptance speech. great! it's always good to have a backup plan, in case i get hit by a meteor. wow, your hair looks great. didn't realize they did photoshop here. he gca onse mugs. can't let 'em see what you're drinking. you know, i'm glad we're both running a nice, clean race. no need to get nasty. here's your "honk if you had an affair with taylor" yard sign. looks good. [ male announcer ] fedex office. nowave 50% on banners. the economy needs manufacturing.

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welcome back to "hardball." with just six weeks to go to the election and recent gains in swing states by president obama, democrats are allowing themselves to begin thinking about what a second obama presidential term would be like. what it would look like. latest issue of "newsweek" the cover story isritten by andrew sullivan who arguethat with a se tprent am uld become aransformative president. in fact, among the nation's great presidents. here is something sure to gall republicans, he says president obama could become the democrat ronald reagan. sullivan writes, que, he will emerge as ancofi strulethrough a ssion and terrorized world. reshaping the economy within it, passing universal health care, strafing the ranks of al qaeda, presiding over a civil rights revolution, and then enjoying the fruits of the recovery. with me now is "newsweek's" anewiv a etof "the dish" and also joining me is ari melber, a correspondent

for "the nation." gentlemen, thank you. our main focus is on you and your big brain, andrew, my frnd, because it's hard for me to figure out what "newsweek" has been doing the last few dreroe r ery fnt c one trashes obama. this one brilliantly i think celebrates the potential of a certain election result. give me your sense, how you got into this idea of even thinking about the next four years given all our focus here at "hardball" and elsewhere on what's going to happen in six weeks. >>aue, pde has been thinking about it for four years already, and if you have watched him carefully, you have seen he's always played a long game, andart of that long game was always re-election. most presidents deal wh the middle east in t last two years. he started his first go. he ierited the worst recession but he pushed through health care reform at the very beginning. he knew these things would take time, and so he set it up in a way to enable the big payoff to come later, which is high-risk/high-reward strategy. on d ourth

republicans went nuts and prevented him from getting a sensible grand bargain on this, but, again, he set up the debt ceiling fiasco so we have sequestration coming down december 31st and the end of the bush tax cuts if nothing d jemhaw conceded that if obama wins, then they will have to give on taxes. once the republicans give on taxes, we uld have the grand bargain if, if, i think, obama wins with a big enough margin. >> l's get to that quote by senator de demint, very conservative senator from south carolina. we're not going to save our defense unless we go along with the president's wishes to raise taxes on small business. it's not a good choice. i would never support it, but ino soai nough republicans i nstst w prably give in. let me go to ari. thanks for joining us, ari. my sense is as well as andrew has laid this out, how obama is this visionary and can think

three or four years ahead, he must have also counted on an ecomic recovery kicking in d h ars in more steam the' thecte we have an 8%-plus unemployment rate that looks like it's going to be facing us in the face the day people vote. >> i think that's right. theyad hoped theconomy would unre th inherited a 750 million per month loss rate and have improved a lot from that as andrew documents in the piece, but they have a longer ways to go. i think the other interesting comparison to ronald reagan is there's two ronald reagans. there was the ronald reagan who rked with democrats, who made x reform a priority will you alaita wig the federal law that requires that hospitals have to treat poor people when they come into the e.r. ronald reagan worked across the aisle on a lot of things and then there's the ronald reagan we hear about only the gop primy des, a conrve

ideologue at every turn. if you talk about the first reagan, obama has tried to follow that path, but he's had less cooperation on offer from the congress. he didn't -- >> chris, can i make two points hdnan k--. >> sorry. that reagan ended his first term with a higher misery index than obama currently has. reagan's recession was also a fairly induced recession in order to wring inflation out of the economy, and it happened and began on his watch. a ria nc collapse recession which of their nature lasts longer, and it happened before he got there. i think that helps explain the difference. if you look at the gallup poll of approval of reagan and obama, you will see they're t closest of any two presints the last 50 yes except that reagan sank lower in his first term than obama ever did. heent down to 35%. and obama's highs are less high. so it's still a strugg, i

agree, but i think what obama has been able to do is say, look, m nogivi youar high morni in eric i'm telling you, we're gritty, back to the basics, rebuilding america, and i know it's tough, but that is finally a different kind of message. people realize that reagan's recovery was the sugar high, and sll h to al with it bt >> well, the question i have -- first of all, i'm not sure you're right because paul volcker was appointed fed chair by jimmy carter and he began squeezing the money supply under carter, i know about it, i was there. >> but the recession started in '81. >> you call the misery index. obviously, the sgelement in tis index right now is the unemployment rate, up around 8.3. inflation doesn't help getting rid of it politically if it isn't around. nobody gives you credit for not having inflation. they give you anger if you have -- >> b let me remind you, every right wing economist suggting pela bw becausof our debt. we have a problem of deflation. but i'm just saying, if --

people don't accept that but they accept he's done the best he can. and what's interesting in the polls is that they know it's tough, but they think he's got the better plan fix it. >> let's talk about the two things we argue about on this show. t's art th ira. how do you get through a really good immigration bill that has both progressivity in terms of letting people come in the country, recognizing who is already in the country, allowing people to come in on shorter periods of time with work permits. how do you put it all on paper and stop the under the table n he do that with a team that really enforces it? >> you do it the way reagan did it. you get both parties together and you figure it out. and you do it in the congress. and the reason we haven't done it is because the republicans have blocked it. th's tthhi republicans lose the latino vote this time by the kind of margins the polls are showing, there are many people in the republican party, karl rove chief among them, jeb bush chief

g em, untaif aate this cstuency permanently they're headed for minority status forever, a regional minority white party. and they need latinos. so i think there's enough of a group of people, especially in the senate, and possibly even in thhouse, to actually move immigration forwd, and i think obama ouldake theirst iik somet voed with it because they did simpson and the teeth fell out. let me ask you, ari, about this deal. are u confident as andrew is that there can be some big deal on spending and revenues that the republicans will come the table -- they'll belly up and say, damn it, obama won ice a row, we have to deal wh him or will they go to the right having lost a lot of moderates in the next election perhaps, this election coming up, and say, no, we're going to continue with the scorched earth policy of bringing this guy down. if we can't keep him from being elected a couple times, we're still going to destroy his legacy. e r years i he gets in again? >> i think it depends on the margin. i think if it's considered on the right a narrow re-election

for the president, if w postulate that hypothetical, obwaulyan shouldhey haveeen first on the ticket, should have been more conservative, and you know that argument. i think if it's a blowout and these are all ifs, you have a goldwater-type reassessment, then, yes, a, you have a dire to manufacture, and, b, you have new people in the party like a ted cruz that the president can go out and talk to and say let's be reasonable. you're a tea party guy, but let's do sething that people like youpares cahave ts oda.-- thank you,entlem. andrew sullivan, amazing piece. i will read it several times. >> thank you. >> ari melber, thank you. up next, it took a wild ending to last night's packs/seahawks game to get wisioverr scotwalker in swini wos. that nexin the "sideshow." [ lisa ] my name's lisa andha hd ui ne ld in

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back to "hardball." a lot of buzz about that refs' call in last night's game between the packers and the seahawks. >> final play. wilson lob to e end zone. which is fumbled by tate with jennings simultaneous. who was it? who did they giv to? toucown! elou tiffent calls by the ref. one interception, one touchdown. quite a lot of outrage from people who say the replacement refs should have called that an interception, not the touchdown that won the game for seattle. the replacement refs are filling inuring the labor dispute. between the l and regular refs. the slaught oflsge the anguac t field is growing after last night, of course, even from the political people. president obama said earlier today he wants the permanent refs to come back, but a few nuggets from the gop as well. wisconsin governor scott walker, no friend of labor, tweeted, quote, after catching a few s jasnfwileep, thpackers game thsh rurn the real refs. paul ryan, also a wisconsinite

and a packers fan, agreed. >> i mean, give me a break. it is time to get the al refs, and you know what? it reminds me of president obama and the economy. if you can't get it right, it's time to get out. i half think that these refs work part time for the obama administration and the budget office. they see a debt crisis and they just ignore and pretend it didn't en happen. they're trying to pick the winners and losers, and they don't even do that very well. >> what a cheap exploitation of something people really care about. anyway, why are the anti-union guys like walker and ryan trying to get the unionized -- seehe ir rban fi at b speech writing. by the way, he was reading it off the lectern. he couldn't even remember it. next, the story of chris christie and a reporter. the firsone of the season anyway.

atn event yesterday one poer pressed chrise onis poes flo l you know what came up next? >> do you have a follow-up question? >> who are you, by the way? >> jim. >> from where? >> channel 7. >> my follow-up would be, i'm not sure that rings true. >> next question. >> this is an urnt -- wououw ffesti. plee. >> why would you brush it off? >> do me a favor, don't show up once in every blue moon and think you're going to dominate my press conference. >> i'm not. >> thank you very much. >> your agency -- >> at that same event christie downplayed the effect of comments 47% comments caught on camera, racking it up to a bad week for romne but conceding the governor that if the election were tomorrow, that would be a problem. he said that one straight. ashback to 196 edfaffh nin. ♪ kennedy kennedy kennedy kennedy ♪

♪ do you want a man for president who is seasoned through and through ♪ ♪ but not so dog gone seasoned that he won't try something new ♪ ♪ a man who's old enough know and young enough to do ♪ ♪ well it's up to you it's up to you it's strictly up to you ♪ >> don't have ads like that the days. the 2012 o von h rith t wsite call write me a jingle. ♪ do you want a man for president who's seasoned through and through ♪ ♪ but not so doggone seasoned he won't try something new ♪ ♪ a man who's old enough to kno but yog enough to do ♪ ♪ it's up to you, it's up to you ♪ ♪ it's strictly up to you ♪ barack obam obama >> tough not to feel refresh ayn prenti after that one.

campaign than mr. bill clinton, bubba? well, both president obama and mitt romney spoke at the clinton global initiative up in new york today and that's ahead. they're all genuflecting to the big guy, elvis. he's back. watching "haball," the place for politics. how did i get here? dumb luck? or good decisions? ones i've made. ones we've all made. about marriage. children. about tomorrow. here's to good decisions. who matters most to you says the most about you. massmutual is owned by our policyholders so they matter most to us. massmutual. we'll help you get there. and every day since, two years ago, the people of bp made a commitment to the gulf. we've worked hard to keep it. bp has paid over twenty-three billion dollars

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here's what's happening. president oba addssedhe ungelem a s time was limited for dip lome picy for iran over its nuclear program. and said u.s. must do what it must to prevent iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. it seems retailers are optimistic as we, toy" tnsoire 47,000 seasonal workers for the holidays. walmart made a similar

announcement last week. back to "hardball." > omck"hall. one thing came through loud and clear today at the clinton global initiative up in new york, bill clinton is the man to see. he's so influential mitt romney ai ad meg ay from the cig thertoda president obama, too, praised the former president. let's listen to president obama. >> i am grateful for your friendship and your extraordinary leadership, and i think i speak for the entire country when we say that you continue to be a great treasure for all of us. >> so what will the power of bill clinton mean for the 2012 election looking ahead for six weeks and beyond? john heilemann is new york magazine national affairs editor and an msnbc contributor. and i must give you

congratulations, john. i out therwith, u and mark halperin wrote the book that picked up four, count them, four emmys this weekend, this sunday night. we all watched. it must be amazing to be part of a show that included that first hour or so of that show and then it got intellectual when you got up there. thout it py es. corati it'sllt of television. susan page, thank you. i'm sure you'll get your emmy some day for front page reporting with "usa today." let me ask you about a game-changing situation. i know you don't want to give away your next book. it seems bill clinton's speech the tisof bot onlchanged pe b tel cing t of that according to some polling i have seen feeling better about the economy objectively. >> yes. >> tell me about that. the way you look at that. >> i think hugely important that speech, chris, i think in aay enseativ hav owed sh ki ofame-changing moment in the election. he did two different things. i mean, he really did lay out the choice with incredible clarity. he laid out the argument for the fact that it really refuted in a

very powerful, concrete way and answered the question that the obama campaign was having trouble answering, which was are you better off now than you were four years ago? he said, yes, you are, emphatically, and let me show you why. that was huge. there's a lot of polling that suggested that the bunchhat president obama got out of the convention was almost all due to bill clinton. you now see him alst like a running mate if you look at the obama ads. you see obama ads across the country, president clinton is in almost all of the ones that are running heavily in the swi states right now. and they run -- the video runs back to back at the end of the ads. you see president clinton spngpresent obama ki intes.theyre that's how powerful the obama complain thinks bill clinton is as a kind of champion of the notion that in fact things are on the right track. >> susan, i want to you look at a short bite from the great "daily show" which w its tenth rejoewan hink,he other night.

edutit an understated reference to clinton tour de force in charlotte. looelgts let's watch, very quick. >> so, give any good speeches lately or -- >> susan, that is now so well knownhathat shas sodhall stewart, who's brilliant at this, just teases that. >> you know, it's really remarkable. remember, these are two men, barack obama and bill clinton, who, you know, have a history and not a good one. they have a history as being rivals, some bitterness from the primary battle four years ago, and yet if president obama wins a second term, some of the credit is going to go to bill clinton. and you saw in the interview that president obama did with "60 minutes" on sunday, he said, here's a quality idmirn ests iav studied who are successful, persistence, it's an underrated virtue. who do you think he was talking about?

there's no person in public life who has been more persistent than bill clinton in getti knocked down and getting right back up. >> and that the key. oliver wendell holmes said you can't chan everying in yr libuu have b he yanp trng anyway, on cbs "face the nation" this sunday bill clinton was nonxhino noncommittal in his way if hillary clinton will run in 2016. we can always read this guy. he left no doubt that he think shin t rig jow, ou wowt 's thinking about the future. let's watch him in action. >> i just don't know. she's an extraordinarily able person. i never met anybody i thought was a better public servant, but i ve no earthly idea what she'll decide to do. >> you know he's really good at that. jo, i st -i himo ining watch. just to listen to him and his iq must be in the 200 range and he's there saying what he knows he has to say, don't speak for her, she's an autonomous figure, happened to be married to him, but she's a politician in her own right. don't eclude anything she does but i thght it w very much a cheeulsaboer

>> well, look, president clinton clearly wants his wife to run in 2016. i don't think there's any doubt about that. i spent the day at cgi and there's a lot of the old clinton network around that operation. you talk to those folks, there's lo peoe whwaer ru thonavy ubt at president clinton wants her to run, that he thinks she would be a great president, he thinks she's been a great secretary of state. i think president clinton is actually speak the truth when he says he doesn't know what she's going to do. i think she has made a very conscious desion, even with the people closest around her, to say i'm not talng about ouat.right now, i'm not thinng i want to finish this job. i want to take some time off. i think the question becomes a year from now when she's ahead of every democrat in every poll by 50 points and she's seen as being the only one who can rse the kind of money you would need to be able to run, whether she if desget , cl theieityo el i don't see any other democrat in any position to take her on. >> speaking from my native state, pennsylvania, she'd win with 70% against anybody. let's take a look at her speech today because i think at the global initiative i think she's trying to do very subtly a

little help to the president. here she is talking ay about i imbalance of power and the wealthy and elite, how they don't carry their weight around the world, in a way that's very supportive of what the president has been saying about tax fairness. >> one of the ises that i have en pac a ad woislectg s n equitable manner, especially from the elites in every country. you know, i'm out of american ound the wld t elis a fact that every country are making money. there are rich people everywhere, and yet they do not contribute to the growth of theiown countries. >> so, susan, washe talking about arntina, borneo, or e good old u.s. of a?

i think she was doing some home consumption there. >> that doesn't seem like such a subtle message to me. that seems clear. i asme hillary clinton runs in fo years because why shouldn't she? any main that situation would be running. joe biden is talking aut nnin ayoow, re a gem fo y a four years ago when she ran we thought of bill clinton as a mixed blessing, a guy who carried some baggage. what do we think we'll think about him in four years? it seems to me he's going to be probably a tot asset for her if and when she cides to make anher bid. >> we'll see. knhelwth comeback kid and he always has to be. so maybe he's made his final comeback. it's an awful big one. you're right, susan, but you never know. john heilemann, susan page, thank you both. up next, today is national voter registration day. couldn't be more iortant given all th voter suppression out ther s outow dra argh bagt republican effort in so many states, 17 of them suppress the minority vote. this is "hardball," the place for politics. [ male announcer ] with a driving range of more than 550iles you'll inevitably find yourself on a desolate highway

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a winning percentage of 80%. so where they stand now is very important. we'll be right back. if you are one of the millions of men who have used androgel 1%, there's big news.

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tell your doctor about your medical conditions and medications, especially insulin, corticosteroids, or medicines to decrease blood clotting. talk to your doctor today about androgel 1.62% so you can use less gel. log on now androgeloffer.com and youould p alittle as ten drs aonth for androgel 1.62%. what are you waiting for? this is big news. we cannot let anyone discourage us from casting our ballots. we cannot let anyone make us feel unwelcome in the voting booth. it is up to us to make sure that in every election every voice is heard and every vote is unted. thateansakinsure our ls ervehat ght. >> wow. welcome back to "hardball." that was michelle obama speaking at the congressional black caucus this saturday night. she was referring to the concerted effort since 2010, of course, to make it more

fficult to vote, especially minorities. this map shows the 17 states where ws he been pd since then making it tougher to vote now than it was in the last -- harder than the last election. so this year it's even more important that everyone who is eligible to vote i think get registered to vote andight for th right to vote. today is national voter registration day in this country. it's a two-pronged effort get peop rteankee people know what sorts of documentation they need to vote on election day or earlier. marc morial is the president of the urban leue and sponsored the national voter registration day itself. victoria defrancesco soto is an nbc latino contributor. i want to talk, marc, thank you so much for coming on. here is your chance to make the case to people who might be disillusioned or discouraged because they've heard about all the suppression out there, attempt to suppress, especially minority votes. let's be honest. >> let's not be scouge s eus back, even though there's been a tremendous effort to make it more difficult

for people to vote. we want to encourage people to register and we want to encourage people who believe they are registered to check their registration, makeure they know what those reirements are. ile ste h psed laws, chris, there were proposals in 41 states. and of theitracks. this is about democracy and th is about the right to vote. ffult. me itore we should make it simple and clear and plain for people to be able to register and participate in democracy. >> victoria, let's talk about latino and latino vote and the feings they have as minorities cinghis slaut ofew danetes,lodo closed windows to voting. >> it's a steep hurdle for millions of people. let's take for example the photo i.d. laws. 60% of latinos do not have the requisite documents to vote with

a photo i.d., compare that t6% of nonlatino whites. >> naturalized, born here but they -- absolutely. >> what reason would they have for not having it, a photo i.d. card? >> first oalhe ct of getting that identification. here in texas where they tried to pass a stringent rule, it's very hard to get to a dmv if you're a rural latino voter. they say, it's a free photo i.d. what they don't tell you, it coyou t2 et birth certificate in order to get that free photo i.d. one way or the other -- >> it's like a poll tax? >> exactly. >> it is a poll tax. >> exactly a poll tax. >> let me ask yoabout this -- the -- do you have aense, ma, heis - don't know if conspiracy is the right word but concerted effort in these states and i think the democrats weren't watching the

candy store when all these people got elected. re theall working together en this -- >> this s anrcherate plned tack an orchestrated planned avalanche that took place. you had groups like american legislative exchange council who were behind this. you had large numbers of people who determine that it was part re dficu feotorategy to ke it vote. we need to understand that there have been scant cases of voter impersonation in this country, that have turned up. this is a solution looking for a problem. this is a set of legislative initiatives behind a phoney smoksc of ter au anopo understand what it is. we want people to be informed. we want people to vote. >> here's congressman -- the great congressman john lewis, civil rights hero. he was talking at voter registration event in georgia today, encouraging people to fight voter suppression. 's been great on this. let's listen.

>> there are forces in america today, not just in the american south, but all across our land, that is trying to make it hard and difficult for people to register and vote, for people to cast their vote. for all across america today, members of the congressional black caucus at this hour and later during the day, are doing the same thing. but we have 44 members in each congressional district. we have until what, october 9th? to get people registered. >> you know, victoria, it seems to me the worsthing that could come of this concerted effort of 17 states to try to close the door to americans and legitimate voters is people say no to themselves. i was at howard to the commencement, i said to the kids, don't ever say no to yourself. i'm afraid more people -- mark,

they would say, this is going to be the biggest pain in the butt, too complicated, i'm not going to go this year, even if it's obama. is tt a dangerutre, th'll iided outf ng >> it's a danger. the irony of it is is that we're t using technological advances to automate our systems. a handful of states have used automated registrationystems where i can go online and register to vote. the bulk of the states are going in retrogress of manners. this is what is most frustrating to me on this day of national voter registration. >> chris, you know, there are many of us across the nation who ha campaigns and efforts. rscalled occy thvote ha itatrovides information that people need. we have a hot line people can go to at 1-866-vote-one. we nd everyone that loves freedom, understands democracy d unrstas vg the foundation of democracy, to

get out there and make sure people are not frustrated. >> we'll have you back, mark. we want this message out, too, almost as much as you. thank you, mark of urban league and victoria, who work with us. 'll rig bacinine.

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let me finish with this. we've sa it before and we'll say it again. the republican parhould be ashamed of trying to suppres voting of africaamericans. 17 states have required more documents or shut down voting opportunities. it's a multistate effort you have to be wonder is run out of the national republican committee itself. if not, they might get out there and think about condemning it. i think at wl haen wn he freezes over. these are organized campaigns by republican-controlled legislatures at the state level with the single ambition to cut down on voting by african-americans and other minorities. in some cases the courts have been able to stothem. it's the old dirty scam of winning elections by keeping your rivals from getting out their vote. if you can't win the heas an minds of vers, shut e wi. come up with the latest technique to shut down their voting opportunities. the continued talk and tv ad about welfare recipients, obama beg a food stamp president, the filibuster to shut down the